


The Prince

by Saltiest_Salt



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: "comes with some great hardware, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Link doesn't want this, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Sassy Zelda, She's too good for this world, Sidon and Mipha perfect sibling duo, The Bachelor-type situation, The Selection, The timeline is a mess for this fandom, Trans Link, Trans Male Character, except Zelda's mom, so I made it so all the timelines connect in this au, tbh though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-08 08:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13454034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saltiest_Salt/pseuds/Saltiest_Salt
Summary: A tournament has called out for Zora men to compete for Princess Mipha's hand in marriage, twenty zora will fight for the princess' heart and the title of her husband. Worried about the growing tension on the Hylians and Zora alliance, Princess Zelda submits her chosen knight to compete.





	1. Chapter 1

If there was anything Link hated more than Zelda being upset, it was when she meddled with things that were not hers to meddle with. Not that he didn’t love the golden-haired princess, she was like the sister he never had, perhaps that was why she seemed to be able to irk him more than anyone else could. Back straight and the robotic-like typical guard expression printed on his face, he watched as the princess paced back and forth across her room, lost in thought.

   Suddenly she stopped, a wild, yet earnest smile growing on her face in what he assumed to be her eureka moment. “I’ve got it,” she cheered, causing Link to smile. Zelda tended to get lost in her head, following whatever riddle or problem that plagued her, only to spout off at random her thoughts on the matter, confusing those around her if they weren’t used to it. The knight didn’t mind, of course, it was nice to hear her half-baked thoughts and plans as they were built up from the ground, they made him look forward to her era of ruling. 

   “I know how to stabilize our alliance with the Zora,” she laughed, her excitement filling her eyes. Ever since the death of Queen Zelda, their alliance with the fish-like people had been on the rocks, Zelda’s father wasn’t helping, the king’s pride and short temper clashing with the Zora people. 

Smiling slightly, holding back his grin, Link nodded, giving her their signal for her to continue, his intrigue building. Not a second after his head stilled, the princess continued feverishly. “King Doraphan plans on holding a tournament-like event for princess Mipha’s hand,” suddenly Link felt something unpleasant bubbling up in his belly, paranoia building. Taking his stillness as his approval to continue, the blonde princess started pacing again. “Single Zora males that are interested are meant to submit an application and photo, from there the king and the elders pick the most prominent and hopeful twenty for the tournament.”

“The chosen stay in the Zora domain and try to win over Mipha until they’re slowly cut down to the last one, the Zora she’ll create armor for, her future husband,” she paused, almost wistful before suddenly pointing at the scrappy blonde, her smile wide. “That’s where you come in Link, as my knight you’ll enter and try to win the princess over, or at least try to steady the relationship between the Zora and hylians before you’re sent home.”

Link stared at her for a moment, mouth agape, her plan surprising him more than it probably should have.  _ “But your highness, as you said, it’s only for Zora. I’m definitely not a Zora,”  _ he signed, gesturing to his lack of fish-like qualities.

“Call me Zelda, we’ve gone over this, you’re my best friend, there’s no point in titles at this point,” she smirked impishly. “As for your,” she paused, giggling, “fishy little problem, I have a simple solution.” Curling her fingers in a calling for him to follow her, he fell into step behind her, watching as she slipped into her taught poise, looking nothing unlike royalty.

Walking through the stone halls of Hyrule castle, the knight gave subtle, but in-depth glances at the walls and the things that decorated them. No matter how many times and how far he explored the castle, he simply couldn’t get enough of it, awe taking over his almost cold exterior every time. The stone walls were worn, thin cracks etched into them, hundreds of years were pressed against the castle, slowly eroding it and turning it to dust, yet it held firm. 

Their fast-paced steps clacked against the floor, each footfall echoing with another. Going down a wide staircase, a dark red carpet covering it, they continued their journey downwards until they stood in front of a dark steel door, two solum guards standing between them and the heavy entranceway. 

Suddenly they straightened their posture, becoming almost statue-like. “Your Highness,” they shouted in unison, not looking at her, but rather straight to the stone brick wall. 

“There’s no need to be so formal with me, sirs,” she spoke calmly, a smile adorning her face. “If you would kindly move aside so I can reach the treasury, it would be gratefully appreciated,” there was an edge of what Link could only believe was sass to her voice, but paid no mind to it, he had learned early on that Zelda hid her more uncouth traits in a way that only a few could truly see. With a clank of metal against metal, they moved almost robotically away from the door, permitting their entrance. 

There was the whirl of gears turning before the two sides of the door started to pull apart from each other, creaking loudly as they did so. As soon as the candlelight reached the interior of the room, a golden sheam seemed to stretch out into the hall. The floor was littered with gems and rupees stacked to the ceiling, bright weapons that seemed to radiate light were among them, next to no wear on them, as if they had been purposely kept from battle.

“This is the Hyrule Castle treasury, this room holds every treasure that my ancestors have collected or at least the ones that were registered,” she laughed, stepping further into the heavily guarded room. 

_ “What does this have to do with me not being a Zora?”  _ He signed in confusion, only to watch as the princess walked deeper into the vault-like room. Following after her, he felt a growing tug as if something had hooked onto his heart and was reeling him in like a fish. The further he followed her, the harder the tug became until Zelda stopped in front of a small wooden chest, its dark wood engraved with artistic outlines of the different races of Hyrule, the Rito surprisingly absent, a large moon floated above them all, stretching onto the lid, a sadistic look on its surface. 

Link’s heart was pounding in his chest as Zelda spoke, creaking open the box. “One of my ancestors created these thousands of years ago, from what I’ve managed to read about them, it seems like they have some sort of magic ability that the scripture they came with alludes to,” she lifted up the one from the top of the pile, a simple Deku scrub mask. The soulless eyes of the mask made the knight’s skin itch, a burning sensation spreading like a rash. Placing it at her side, the princess pulled another out, one brown like soil, a Goron. The itch grew stronger as she set it alongside the Deku, it felt as if he had forgotten something and it was trying to force itself back into his head with a blade. 

“There it is!” Zelda suddenly exclaimed, pulling a blue, almost teal, mask from the bottom. Something told him it was a Zora, but it looked nothing like any of the ones he had seen. Fins stretched out from the sides of its head and it lacked the bump on the forehead that led to the tail he had seen on every Zora he had seen. Shaking his head softly at the itchy tingling, he straightened up.

_ “Not to offend you, your Highness, but that’s a mask,” _ one could almost see the sigh in his hand movements, causing him to inwardly cringe. 

“I said it was magic,” she pouted, the expression reminding him of when he had refused to eat the frog she had proclaimed was magic years ago, he ended up eating anyways despite his qualms. He ended up sick for days afterward, apparently, you had to cook the amphibian first, but he had never been able to say no to her when she pouted. It reminded him of a kitten who wanted to be bigger than she was. Older. 

“Just put the mask on,” she jokingly commanded, standing up and thrusting the relic at him. Taking it in his hands, Link ran his fingers against the grain, almost flinching away at the soft shocks that tingled on his skin.

_ “How do you know the mask is a male Zora?” _ He signed hesitantly, staring into the masks pitch black eyes. Chuckling, Zelda raised a finger to the sky, one hand on her hip in a “matter-of-factly” pose.

“Intuition,” she cheered and Link could almost feel part of himself dying inside. Seeing his less than stellar reaction, she smirked and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “I heard that it even comes with a great set of hardware,” she laughed pulling away. Quickly the blood rushed to his face, cheeks going red all the way up to the tip of his ears, his face becoming a paragon of embarrassment. His fingers were twitching in a mix of different words, not fully being able to process what he wanted to say to the princess, words flying through his brain. 

Settling on simply not saying anything, the blond knight sighed before raising the Zora mask to his face he felt the grain of the wood press against his skin before pain wracked his body. A silent scream leaving his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Time to face the music."

There was a chill settling over the Zora domain as the sun slowly started to set, holding back a slight shiver, Mipha looked over to her brother at her side. She was sure he would be the one better off after this whole ordeal, he was always the more talkative one of the two. While part of her was dreading the thought of the next few weeks, a bigger part of her was curious on what Zelda’s plan was. Weeks ago she had requested a submission forum for the event, the princess wasn’t sure what the other was planning, but she trusted her friend. Casting a quick glance at their father, she noted he was still conversing with the elders about the preparations for tonight. Tugging on Sidon’s sash to get his attention she waited until he casted a quick turn of the eyes at her before looking back to the conversation taking up the room, acknowledging her secretly. 

“I’m a bit worried I won’t have much of a choice in this,” she smiled softly, a sliver of pessimism in her voice that surprised even her. Her brother frowned, registering her words, lost in thought for a moment.

“I’m sure you’re opinion will be taken into account, at least by Father. You were always his favourite,” he smiled, no real malice in his voice. “Even if it isn’t, I might just steal one from you,” his smile turned into an impish grin, showing off his blade-like teeth.

Laughing quietly, Mipha tried to hold the noise back with her hand. “The one downside of you being gay is that we have he same type when it comes to men,” she joked, taking comfort in the casual banter of siblings. Ever since the tournament was announced, she had rarely moment to herself, even less so a moment with her brother, it was nice to fall back into the normalcy of it. 

She knew it wouldn’t last much longer though, the quietness, the bachelors that her father and the elders had picked would be arriving once the sun fell completely. It would no longer be just her and her brother, instead the domain would be filled by Zora from all around Hyrule, ones she didn’t even know. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t even a little bit scared.

Noticing her sudden quietness, Sidon nudged her with his elbow, causing her to almost lose her composure with surprise. The prince had always been good at knowing when she was simply being quiet or if something was truly worrying her to the point of silence, she couldn't help but be grateful for that. “There’s no need to worry Mipha, it’ll be over in no time. You don’t even have to craft armor for any of them if you don’t want to. You’re the final choice in all of this, even if you don’t feel like you are,” he smiled, trying to cheer her up. “Maybe you’ll even find the one, then Father can get off our back about the throne,” he joked, laughing loud enough to earn them a glare from the elder Zora’s arguing how her fate should be handled. Smiling softly, she quietly thanked the goddess for her over energetic brother and his constant faith that everything would be okay; Mipha wasn’t sure where she would be, who she would be, without him.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her father cut his meeting short with a curt “enough!” He looked drained, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, she knew that ruling for so long was hard on him, it was why she had finally agreed to start searching for a husband. He didn’t want her to rule alone like he did after her and Sidon’s mother died when he could no longer rule. 

“Mipha, dear, you should be getting ready. There’s no need for you to stress yourself over this, this is supposed to be for you,” he said tiredly, looking at the siblings with a slight turn of the head. 

“Father,” she started before the rest of her sentence died off in her throat. Not wanting to stress him out farther, she forced a smile. “Okay, Father,” ignoring Sidon’s slight turn of a frown, she turned away, she had to busy herself before more worries built themselves up in her head.

Climbing up the large, spiraling staircase, Mipha tried to ignore the slight bows that were sent in her direction. It wasn’t until times like these that she realized just how far the royalty’s rooms were from the main hall. Finally reaching her room, she heard the door close behind her before letting out a soft sigh, she only had a few hours left of the somewhat peace. She was shocked though by the sudden hands on her arms, pulling her forwards. Eyes wide she tried to pull away from the two Zora before she recognized who they were. They looked almost identical if you didn’t count they slight differing shades of blue of the stripe below their eyes. Other than that, the twins were the same in appearance, a snow white with it slowly fading into yellow around their face, the fan like shape at the end of the tail on their head, even Mipha got the two mixed up at times. 

The two had been in charge of how she looked in official public appearances ever since her mother died, of course they had only been apprenticing at the time. She didn’t hesitate to sit in front of her vanity, smiling at the shells decorating in it before turning to the twins, having faith in them to do their best. 

Closing her eyes, Mipha listened to the two bicker back and forth on what to use. The two always seemed to fill the silence that she seemed to leak into the world around her, it was nice.

“Silver would reflect well, after all, it’s flashy, but still modest,” who she believed to be Indigo, hummed.

“But she’s going to meet her husband! She doesn’t want to be simply modest, right Princess?” The other pouted, certainly Azura.

“I wouldn’t mind some modestly, it’s not for certain I’ll be marrying any of the suitors anyways,” she smiled, almost giggling at the audible sigh and laugh of triumph. 

Feeling the brushes of the silvery powder of makeup on her face, Mipha fell into a comfortable silence, occasionally listening to the twins’ bickering, almost forgetting about what one could consider her impending doom. She honestly wasn’t ready to be done when the two finally pulled away from her, yes, she looked beautiful, the twins always managed to outdo themselves, but a familiar chill of fear was resting in her stomach.

Taking a breath of air, she thanked the two swifty before taking her leave from her room, steps steady through the palace.

It was time to face the music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't as long as the last, so I apologize, but I really wasn't quite sure on how to expand this set of scenes. I hope none of the characters aren't too ooc, I wasn't truly sure how to write Mipha, so I sort of just went with polite introvert in a sense. 
> 
> Also, the twins' names are references to two other nintendo games. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link tries to not be incriminating, he swears.

Considering Link had never seen a dick, he liked to think he reacted quite well to the strange appendage, all considering at least. Zelda had laughed when his now turned blue skin turned a dark purple from the blood rushing to his face. Perhaps he might have been able to see one when he was younger, training to be a knight. There was no real modesty among the recruits, but he kept his distance, fear, and embarrassment bubbling in his stomach. 

He had barely been given any time to adjust to his newfound body before Zelda had to ship him off to the Zora domain, there wasn’t much time until all the suitors were supposed to meet. He knew he looked nothing like the rest of the Zora, a thin, lanky body compared to the usually robust anatomy of the others. The colours of his skin gradianting together unlike the sharp contrast on the prince and princess. 

If his appearance hadn’t given his differences away, it would have been the expressions on the Zora Domain representatives faces’. He had taken up swimming in the moat-like river below the castle when they arrived. It was a tad strange to spend most of his time in the water, perhaps a bit unconventional; but it was more relaxing than spending too much time on land and ending up with dry, scratchy skin, not unlike a sunburn.

When the two Zora came upon the river, they seemed a little shocked to say the least, Link wasn’t entirely sure what they were expecting, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t a small river surrounding the castle. They seemed even more shocked when he rose onto one of the rocks decorating the shore, away from his hiding spot in the dark water. Almost hesitant, snapping out their shock, one of the Zora asked his name, or rather his new name. 

Zelda had pointed out the obvious problem of his name being recognizable at first glance when she had been filling out the entry form. It was no secret that her personal knight and protector was named Link, it would be a bit suspicious if a Zora with his name showed up just as Zelda’s knight disappeared. When Zelda had suggested the name Areli, he had originally denied it, finding the sound of it too different to what he was used to. Yet she pressed on with it, explaining the meaning behind the rarely used name.  _ Lion of the Goddess _ . Something about it seemed to click with him when he heard it like someone had lit a candle in his chest. The princess had found the name when looking through her family’s history books, finding her great-grandfather who shared the name. So with a slight moment of hesitation, he let her write the name down, finalizing his fate. 

Sitting on the rocks, Link let the two interrogate him, trying to work around the language barrier, he didn’t expect them to know sign language, but he was still a little disappointed when they stared at his hand movements in confusion. Finally settling on simply writing in the dirt with a slightly clawed finger he managed to answer their questions, at least somewhat, a nervousness building in his gut, the princess needed for him to pass into the tournament. 

When they had asked him if he had ever had a sexual partner, he could feel himself blushing to the points of his ears, his head shaking rapidly in sharp denial. One of the two seemed to chuckle at the action, the other seemingly holding back a smirk. They had very few questions for him after that, all of them simple, easy to answer. When they finally left, taking a quick dip into the river to wet their skin, Link felt the tension building in his muscles loosening. He felt guilty for lying, even if they were only the tiniest of white lies and that they were for the princess, but he managed to at least try to be convincing. 

Not long after they had left, he caught sight of a familiar head of golden hair running towards the water, a grin on her face. There was barely a moment before he was interrogated yet again, this time quite a bit less stressful, nothing weighing down on his shoulders. Zelda at least thought he did better than he thought he did when he recounted the conversation to her. She had always had more hope than he did in these types of situations, socializing was perhaps his true Achilles heel, not just do to his mutism. 

Allowing himself to take off the Zora mask, Link braced himself for the pain before crawling out the water, his breath shallow. While he was growing used to being in the other body, it would never be as comforting was the warm and soft skin of the body he grew up in. Raising from his knees and onto his feet, Link looked to the princess only to see the sad smile on her face. He knew she didn’t like the pain and stress that the transformation caused him, but they both knew that it was necessary to succeed and there was no turning back now. Following her back inside the castle, he gave her a slight smile in reassurance, she was one of the last few things he had left, he would do anything for her.

Days had passed, an anxious tension building between the two as time went by with no sign if their plan was going to work, yet Link was still shocked to find the shiny envelope addressed to him resting on the rocks where he had met the representatives of the Zora domain. It was a bit alarming that he had got accepted so easily until he got to the bottom of the letter. In a matter of days, they would be returning to run some psych exams and other tests, sealing his fate and cutting off his connection to his hylian body. There was no indication of just how long the letter had been there or how much time he had left before their return, so he was quick to slip back into the fish-like form. 

Returning, it turns out, takes three days. He had been lazily swimming when the two familiar Zora appeared, he was hesitant to admit it, but it was much easier to swim in the new form, fins cutting through the current like an arrow through the wind. Rising to the air, part of him was gleeful with the shocked expressions they gave, one would think they would expect it now. Taking a couple wobbly steps to the shore, he mildly regretted not practicing walking more in the new body, cursing sharply when he almost slipped on the slippery floor of the rocky shore. 

The questions where almost laughably easy to answer, remarkably similar to the ones he had to go through before he could become a knight. Perhaps they used the same reference for gathering questions to ask, he thought with mirth. 

He didn’t even realize they were done until the taller, dark blue Zora placed the book he had been using into the bag at his side, the shorter, orange one doing the same with the parchment he had been writing on. “Considering the distance and the lack of a straight way through water between the domain and your home, we believe it would be for all’s best interest for you to simply come with us now instead of us coming to get you and delaying the tournament.” The taller said matter-of-factly, the almost ever-present frown on his face. 

Jumping back, almost signing a question before remembering they couldn’t understand, Link gaped, shocked.  _ “I got in? _ ” He wrote into the dirt, causing the shorter of the two the laugh.

“Yes, you got in, not that I had any doubts,” he smiled cockily. “And you don’t have to write in the dirt anymore, you know. That’s what took us so long, while Azul continued finding the other bachelors, I stayed behind trying to learn sign language. Since the contrasts in the sign languages and the fact that I have only studied it for about thirteen days, there’s going to be some mixups, even if I spent almost every waking hour on it, but I think we’ll work it out. Currently, the royal scholar and teacher are trying to get the king, prince, and princess to learn it, but they have their own responsibilities, so you’ll most likely end up with a translator.” He grinned, shark-like teeth pointing out. While the news was a bit of a relief, he had been a bit worried for his hands, the very idea of writing everything down making them sore, his peace was quickly taken away. 

“You should get your things together, I want to leave for the Zora Domain before sunset,” Azul started, making it feel like he had dropped a boulder into Link’s stomach. Nodding hesitantly, Link slipped back into the water, a numb panic flowing through his veins.

Absentmindedly, the Zora thanked Zelda. After the letter warning of the representative's arrival, she had tasked him in putting the few waterproof possessions he had underwater and put what else he needed in the underwater cave, just in case something like this happened, it would be strange if he had nothing. She tended to think things through more, perhaps too much. He didn’t have much in the river, but he was thankful for what he did have. 

Rising into the cave, he took a deep breath of cold, wet air. Picking up his pace, he grabbed his small bag, he wouldn’t need much. Rushing through the room he grabbed whatever he thought would be necessary until he came upon a light blue instrument. His ocarina. As a child, Zelda had given it to him, she said it was just on a whim, but he couldn’t help but feel like it was a lie. Something about the clay instrument seemed to resonate with him, not unlike the masks, yet somehow more kind, softer. With a moment of hesitation, he placed the ocarina in his bag, cushioning it with a shirt that would most likely be highly incriminating if it was ever seen by any of the Zora. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to mind, the fear of it breaking stronger than the fear of getting caught, he couldn’t help but find it strange. 

Taking a step back into the water, he quickly stepped out of it. Almost running, he dug a paper of out his bag, a quill and container of ink along with it. Writing against the stone floor of the cave, he rushed out as many apologize as he could and tried to explain the situation, hoping the princess would find it, ignoring the ink that started to coat his fingers. 

Finishing the letter, he sighed as he stood, stepping away before dipping back into the water, making sure to keep his back above the water, cursing at the wavelike currents lapping at the bottom of it. Getting to land, he stood, shifting his bag to hand off his shoulder before signing a quick  _ “ready.” _ Forcing a smile, he twitched when Azul ran a quick once-over of him. 

“Why is there ink on your hands?” He asked sharply, looking for anything even slightly intimidating. Freezing up in fear, Link fumbled to answer, going a bit red in the face.

_ “I had to write a letter to my sister so she wouldn’t get worried when she gets back,” _ It wasn’t exactly a lie, Zelda was like a sister to him, but he still felt guilt biting at his chest. Giving a grunt, seemingly believing the light white lie, the taller turned away, starting to walk away. Startled, the orange Zora, looked a bit shocked before following, motioning for Link to follow. Becoming a shade less tense, he sighed before taking a step after them. There was no going back now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a new chapter up. :') Definitely not the best quality, so I apologize, I think I promised that we'd meet the bachelors this chapter, but I didn't quite get there. I got this far and decided to split it, apologies.

**Author's Note:**

> I keep abandoning fics to start new ones, I meant to continue the last one, but school and some discourse of where I was enjoying the fandom happened, so it's on hiatus for god knows how long. :')
> 
> I'm going to try to finish this one because I'm super excited for it, but please don't spoil the game for me, I'm just piecing things together and trying not to spoil the game considering I won't be able to afford the switch until March. So I'm sorry if it's inaccurate.


End file.
